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“Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts”
“Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” is ballad written and sung by Bob Dylan. The ballad contains fifteen stanzas that describe a story of romance and robbery. Like many of Dylan’s songs, Dylan leaves several parts of this song unexplained and vague, which then leaves the song up for various different interpretations. My interpretation of this song is one of a spiritual sense. I believe the Jack of Hearts resembles God, or faith in general. Dylan also criticizes aspects of our society in the message of his song. Dylan conveys these messages in his song through to use of metaphors and symbols.
The Jack of Hearts, who happens to be mentioned at the end of every stanza, is the main character in the story. On one level, he is the head of the gang that is robbing the bank. On another level, he can be seen a Christ figure who affects the lives of the other characters. Lily is the character that is transformed the most in the song. Dylan describes her as precious as a child, but coming from a broken home and having lots of strange affairs with men. It is also made clear that Lily has had a past relationship with the Jack of Hearts. Jim is the richest and most powerful man in town, and is having an affair with Lily. On another level, he represents evil. All of the characters in the story dislike him. Rosemary is Jim’s wife who is unhappy with her marriage, probably because of Jim’s affair with Lily. Dylan describes her as having, “done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide.” All of these characters are in some way influenced by the Jack of Hearts.
The plot line of the song is as follows: The Jack of Hearts brings his gang to town after the town festival is over because he believes there will be a lot of money in the bank. His plan is to break into the bank during the cabaret show. Lily is the star actress of the show. Next, we are introduced to Jim, who comes into the theatre “with his bodyguards and...